A DEVASTATED woman has revealed how cruel thieves stole almost £3,000 in inheritance from her during a cruel distraction theft in a car park.

Jamie West, 46, collected £2,800 from Santander in Basildon Town Centre on Friday after being left the money in her mum’s will when she passed away earlier this year.

However, when she returned to her car in the Great Oaks car park, close to the Eastgate Shopping Centre, she was approached by two men.

After she placed the cash in an envelope in her car, one man began shouting at her that she had “dropped some money”.

As she went to collect the cash from the floor, the other man allegedly went into her car, stole the envelope and fled.

Police have launched an investigation, and it is understood that Mrs West did not drop any money and that it was a distraction technique used by the crooks.

Mrs West said: “I’m devastated because this was my mum’s inheritance money that she left me when she passed away at the end of February due to Leukaemia.

“I was carrying £2,800 in a sealed envelope and was walking back to my car, which I parked in the post office car park, opposite the new cinema complex.

“I got into my car, and I saw these men, and one of them said I dropped money.

“A few £5 notes were on the floor, and, at the time, I thought they belonged to me.

“I placed the sealed envelope on the passenger seat, got out, and went to retrieve them.

“During this time, one of them went to my car and took the envelope and ran away.

“I was in a complete state of shock and on the verge of tears because I couldn’t believe what had happened.

“After processing the incident, the notes couldn’t have been mine because the envelope was sealed up. I feel so silly for falling for their trap.”

The 46-year-old immediately contacted her husband Tim, 47, to explain what had happened before raising the alarm with police.

A spokesman for Essex Police said: “We were called at 1.25pm on Friday 29 September to reports cash had been stolen in Basildon.

“It was reported the woman, who is in her 40s, was by her car when approached by two men in St Martins Square and told she had dropped some money on the floor. As she went to look, an envelope containing a four-figure sum of cash was taken from the driver’s seat.”

Call police on 101 with any information.